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Thursday, October 15, 2009

The goats USED to love it here. Plenty of food, plenty of water, grain, lots of goodies, apples, back rubs, neck scratches, etc, etc.

For the past two or three weeks, I been having to do a lot to get things ready for cows. The goats haven't been NEGLECTED, but I haven't had time to be with them as long as I usually was.

That, and all the stories I've told them about "goat eating Bovine", have made things - shall we say - "uncomfortable" in the barn.

I thought I'd try and make amends yesterday, by finishing up a couple things so I could get Mabel out with her two Bovine buddies, and away from the goats. This suits the two calves just fine - they need a "Herd Queen", and Mabel will help us teach them a few "manners".

The new living arrangements are also quite wonderful in the goat's opinion, too. They no longer cower in a part of the barn where Mabel can't get to, only to come out when the "coast is clear".

They've taken the stories well to heart....

So, this morning, since I have a broken bale, I decided to set some hay out for the goats before the chickens scattered it to uselessness and beyond. I grabbed about half of the bale and put it in two of the "tire" feeders in the barnyard.

Every goat in six states came out of hiding and pounced on the free food.

Mabel stood by the corner of the barn with her "radar" up, staring intently over the fence at the goats enjoying lunch. Pretty soon, Belle joined her.

I guess the first lesson from the "Herd Queen" was "How To Look Forlornly So The Hillbilly Brings You Hay 101".....

It worked, this Hillbilly is a sucker for forlorn looking bovine....

Luckily, the goats were intent on munching, and didn't notice me giving THEIR food to the cows.

I have noticed, though, the goats are becoming even MORE nosey (if THAT could be possible...). Last week, I was working on a gate when Sally came up to pester me. She wouldn't leave me alone. I even threatened her with BBQ sauce, but to no avail. She wanted attention and, by golly, she was GOING to GET it!

She wanted a hug and a neck scratching BADLY:

At first, I THOUGHT she wanted to "shake hands". She was messing with my mind, though. Just when I figured she was getting "sweet" she planted her leg on me and started to scratch an itch. I SHOULDA known....

The goats have gotten braver, now that there is a fence between them and ALL of the cows. The cows ignore them, for the most part, because they know who can head butt the hardest...

Last night, we ran some of Mabel's milk through our small cream separator. We have used it for goat milk, but this is the first cow milk we've run through it. This afternoon, we opened up the jar of cream and found out we had it a BIT thick....

Yes, that is a knife standing straight up in the jar....The cream was thick enough to spread, even after we stirred the jar. Odd, but we'll have to thin it in order to make butter.

Mabel seems to be adjusting nicely to her new home. She's even made friends with our lunatic cat.

Evidently, the cat forgets that a 900 pound cow can make a pretty flat pancake out of a cat....